All News – Page 216

This fall, Wesleyan’s Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) is offering a free training course to any Wesleyan faculty, staff or student interested in helping the campus community. Formed in September 2009, Wesleyan’s C-CERT members are trained to assist first responders, provide immediate assistance to victims, and organize volunteers at a disaster site. The 20-hour program, which is supported by a grant from the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, includes sessions such as Disaster Preparedness, Fire Safety and Utility Controls, Disaster Medical Operations, Light Search and Rescue Operations, CERT Organization, Disaster Psychology, Terrorism and Disaster Simulation. All participants receive their…

Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento, associate professor of theater, is the guest co-editor of Theater, Volume 45, Number 2, published in 2015. The topic is Brazilian contemporary dramaturgy. The volume contains four Brazilian contemporary plays, translated by Elizabeth Jackson, visiting assistant professor of Portuguese at Wesleyan, accompanied by four introductory essays. The volume, edited by Yale University and published by Duke University Press, is the first collection of Brazilian plays published in the United States since 1988. In addition, Tatinge Nascimento is the author of an essay titled "Subversive Cannibals: Notes on Contemporary Theater in Brazil, the Other Latin America" published in the same Theater edition, pages 5-21. In this…

A new Academy for Project-Based Teaching and Learning will encourage students and faculty to build knowledge and skills by investigating and responding to complex questions, problems and challenges within and across disciplines. Hosted by Wesleyan's Center for Pedagogical Innovation, the Academy's project-based approach includes teaching significant content at the heart of each academic discipline, and cutting edge competencies in problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity/innovation. “The Academy will help us build capacity to increase the number of courses in the undergraduate curriculum that incorporate project-based teaching and learning methods,” said Lisa Dierker, professor of psychology and director of…

At a time when gun deaths are spiking and Congress has failed to enact significant legislation to tackle the problem, Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker writes an op-ed looking at how we got here. She contends that it is Hollywood’s version of history—not reality—that is behind the belief that guns have been a critical part of American culture over centuries. She writes: The 1953 movie “Shane” exemplifies the narrative of a “good man with a gun.” Responding to a woman’s wish that guns be banished, Shane replies: “A gun is just a tool, Marian. It’s as good or bad as…

The Wesleyan Student Assembly hosted the 24th Annual Student Groups Fair Sept. 18 on Andrus Field. The event provided students with an opportunity to meet with both new and established groups. The annual fair also offered students a chance to network with multiple school departments who provide a variety of programs every year.

As the Syrian war draws on and the ranks of displaced people grows ever larger, Europe arguably faces its largest refugee crisis since World War II. The movement of people across the Mediterranean and the Balkans has alternately revealed official incapacity, reactionary violence, and outpourings of voluntarism and support. In recent weeks, some commentators have objected to the characterization of those in flight as migrants, insisting that the term misrepresents their movement as voluntary as a way of denying them basic human rights. On Sept. 17, four faculty panelists discussed “Refugee or Migrant? The European Crisis in Historical Perspective,” as…

On Thursdays in September and October, Wesleyan is hosting a four-part Hispanic Film Series showcasing the power and artistry of contemporary Latin American and Spanish film. All films will be shown at 8 p.m. in the Goldsmith Family Cinema, and are free and open to the public. The series is sponsored by the Thomas and Catharine McMahon Fund, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and the Latin American Studies Program. The films being shown are as follows: Sept. 24–Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales) Oct. 1–Mosquita Y Mari Oct. 8–La Isla Mínima (Marshland) Oct. 15–Hotel Nueva Isla More details on each film…

On Sept. 25-28, Wesleyan will welcome Iraq War Veteran Drew Cameron to campus to share the story of Combat Paper, the practice of hand papermaking, and how this collaborative project has become an integral part of the emerging veteran artist movement. Cameron is the co-founder of Combat Paper, a project in which veterans and the non-veteran community use traditional hand papermaking techniques to transform military uniforms into paper, prints, books, and art. “All of our experiences are encoded within the material items we carry about. With clothing, and military uniforms, our personal geographies, memories, and accomplishments are carried in the…

Read more about Berger here and past Constitution Day speakers here.

Continuing its long-standing tradition of expanding access to higher education, Wesleyan recently announced a new partnership with Say Yes to Education. Say Yes works with students from low-income and other background historically underrepresented in the nation’s colleges and universities from partner locations including Buffalo and Syracuse, N.Y., Harlem, Hartford, Conn. and, most recently, Guilford County, N.C. Students have access to full-tuition scholarships as well as a wide array of supports and services—academic, social, emotional, medical and legal—to help them successfully navigate the path to college readiness. (more…)

Three experts and a Wesleyan student led a panel discussion on “After Charleston: Next Steps for the Movement for Social Justice” Sept. 17 in Memorial Chapel. The event was sponsored by the Allbritton Center for Public Life's Right Now! series. The talk featured Clemmie Harris, visiting assistant professor of African American studies; Tedra James ’18; activist and filmmaker Bree Newsome and Connecticut Bishop John Selders. (more…)

Francis Starr, director of the College of Integrative Sciences, professor of physics, received a $282,000 grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in September. The grant will support “Heterogeneous Dynamics and Assembly Processes in Soft and Biological Materials," a collaborative research project between Wesleyan and NIST. NIST is expected to fund the project through 2018 with a total amount of $1.66M. Soft and biological materials are commonly composed of synthetic or biopolymers, or are formed as a result of the supramolecular assembly of small molecule, nanoparticle, or protein molecules into dynamic organized structures. These materials are central to developing…

Help Wesleyan Community, Build Camaraderie as C-CERT Member

Tatinge Nascimento Co-Edits Theater Volume on Brazilian Dramaturgy

Center for Pedagogical Innovation Creates Academy for Project-Based Teaching and Learning

Tucker on the Wild West, Hollywood and Gun Control

WSA Hosts Student Groups Fair

4 Faculty Panelists Discuss European Crisis in Historical Perspective

Hispanic Film Series Playing in Goldsmith Family Cinema

Wesleyan Hosts “Combat Paper” Exhibit, Workshop with Iraq War Veteran

Berger ’90 Lectures on “Birthright Citizenship” during Constitution Day

Wesleyan Partners with Say Yes to Expand Educational Access

Student, Experts Speak on the Social Justice Movement

NIST Grant Supports Research on Biological Materials, Assembly Processes